Underwater Dreams
by AussieTurtle
Summary: A raging storm of lies and secrets has long been brewing, a silent monster within the darkened corners of their home. The rain and thunder will crash through the walls of their home and threaten to shred their family to pieces. It will take all their courage and love to brave through the war and return home as a family once more.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE**

The stone cave was deep underwater, with imprints of seashells and fish bones. A soft blue glow encircled the cave but the most recognisable feature were the creatures swimming about it. Their skin was as dark blue as the ocean, their eyes black and shaped like deer eyes. They were shaped like humans but with webbed hands and feet and glowing teal lines and specks covered their bodies. All of them were busying about the cave, carving out stone pillars and crafting a glowing path – all of them, but one.

This one was separate and he remained ignored by the others. His teal coloured fur had tinged pink and he stared off into the depths of the ocean. He was sad, grieving a loss. But he was angry also; infuriated, frustrated, feeling betrayed.

"I will find you." His voice was only quiet, soft, but it sent fear down Mikey's shell and he woke from the dream with a start. He was breathing deeply and felt a presence. He almost jumped out his shell when Leo all but materialised out of the shadows.

"Jeez, Leo," he said, clutching his heart.

"Are you alright? You were crying out in your sleep."

Mikey's cheeks burned and he swiped at the tears that had dribbled down his cheeks. That old man's grief had been all-consuming and had left his chest feeling hollow. "I'm fine. Just a bad dream." An easy smile slipped onto his face. Leo regarded him for a moment from the dim light of the doorway. He then walked into the room and dropped a box of tissues on the bedside table. Mikey rolled his eyes but took one, "Thanks."

After he finished blowing his nose (or 'beak'?), Leo asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Nah." Mikey waved the matter aside, "It was just a dream, really."

Leo nodded. "You should go back to sleep and get some more rest before practice."

"What time is it?" Mikey grinned, "Maybe I can get a head start on making breakfast and watch T.V. before the news comes on."

"Or get some extra practice in." Leo suggested, "You could benefit from some meditation."

"Bleh," Mikey stuck out his tongue, "On second thought, sleep sounds good."

Leo chuckled, "Goodnight, Michelangelo."

Luckily, there were no more creepy dreams about creepy old blue people under the water. Leo ended up having to come back into the room to wake him, and he was much less excited about getting out of bed now. But he pulled himself from his mattress and met the rest of his brothers downstairs in the kitchen. Don had already poured himself a hot cup of coffee and Raph was grumbling at the kitchen table.

"'Bout time ya' got up." He groused.

Mikey prepared some slightly undercooked eggs with a side of burnt toast for breakfast. Leo was leading practice again today, while Splinter watched from the sidelines. When Leo first overtook practice, Mikey thought they'd finally get a break. He'd been very, very wrong: Leo pushed them just as hard, if not harder than Splinter had.

By the end of it, Mikey's muscles felt like goo and his limbs had turned to lead.

"Agh, man!" he whined, "I can't feel my back!"

"Ya' don't _have_ a back, Mikey," Raph said with a roll of his eyes.

Mikey grinned sheepishly, "Right." He glanced over at the exit and saw the television array gleaming at him, "Sweet! I dibs the TV!"

He jumped to his feet and ran, and Don murmured behind him, " _Wasn't he dying just a second ago_?" Mikey would have laughed and called back some taunt but stopped dead in his tracks. Right next to the TV stood the old guy from his dream, staring him cold in the eyes. Mikey looked over to see if his brothers had noticed the guy, but when he looked back, he was gone.

"Freaky."

"What's that?" Leo asked. He was coming out of the dojo and headed towards the kitchen, no doubt to brew some tea.

"Nothing."

Leo arched a brow but didn't push. Mikey plopped down onto the worn leather couch. He played a few rounds of the new game Don had gotten him, which put him in higher spirits by lunch time. He paused his game with a great deal of effort and headed into the kitchen to make some sandwiches. Raph turned up, sweaty and smelly from doing lifts, and Leo arrived with Donatello at his side. Their father was not far behind and sat at the head of the table. The banter around the table was light and Michelangelo was feeling much more like himself by the time lunch was over. He decided to give his game a rest and instead went into his room and fished out a comic book he'd found earlier that week, mint condition, thrown in the trash. He'd had no time to read it up until now and so found a quiet spot in the lair to read it, which wasn't hard – after all, 90% of the Lair's noise came from him directly.

He went to bed after dinner without a thought of nightmares or blue people, but that night, another dream haunted his sleep. It was the same place as before, except… different.

The columns were finished; carved out of ivory and sandstone and gold. Intricate fish and horses were carved into them and the glowing road had finished being built. Mikey was aware it was a dream and aware that he wanted to wake up, but his curiosity was piqued. He couldn't see the old guy anywhere. Or anyone, for that matter. He took a few tentative steps forward. Nobody stopped him as he walked into the cave. It was empty. There weren't even any fish or sharks or coral.

But then he heard it; a voice, deeper down in the cave.

The world swayed before him as he followed it, like he was in some kind of trance.

There was a stone basin, filled with something glowing, and the old man – his hair now completely bright pink, which almost made Mikey want to laugh – stood staring into it. He looked up slowly, his dark black eyes reflecting off the green glow.

"I see," he murmured, staring directly at Mikey, "So _you_ are why."

"W… What?"

The old man took slow steps towards him, which looked strange underwater. "Bring him back to me, or you will suffer."

"Bring who back to you? Who _are_ you?"

"Do not play dumb, you insignificant, dull," the old man sucked a mouthful of water in through gills on his neck, "bring him back to me," he repeated, his voice sharp, "or you will SUFFER."

The world flashed black and Mikey jolted awake, shivering. The man's voice echoed in his head, but was drowned out by the worried voices of his family.

"Mikey?" "Michelangelo, are you alright, my son?" "Mikey, you okay?" "Mikey!"

He blinked. His room. He was on the floor, surrounded by his scattered toys and comics. His blanket was wrapped around his legs. His bedside lamp was on. Splinter knelt before him and his hand cupped his cheek, his deep brown eyes filled with worry. Mikey still felt like he was in a daze. He knew, now that he was awake, what the name of the old man was. He wasn't sure how, exactly, but he knew.

"Michelangelo?"

"I'm… okay." His voice came out small.

"You scared us all half to death," Leo said.

"Sorry. I…" he looked over each of his brothers' faces. _Bring him back_. He shivered.

Don was in front of him instantly, his hand on his forehead, checking his temperature, "He's freezing. Raph, go start a warm bath."

"No, I'm fine," Mikey said, but when he went to push Don's hand away, it felt burning beneath his fingertips. Okay… maybe _fine_ wasn't the right word.

"That must have been some nightmare," Don said lightly and grasped his brother's hand.

Mikey leant into Don's embrace, thankful for the warmth.

"Sure was." He muttered.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

Mikey winced as Don slowly waved his pencil flashlight into his eyes. They were sat in the infirmary, the ceiling lights dimmed and small gadgets splayed on the tin tray on the bedside table. The rest of his brothers were seated outside and Splinter stood before him, watching silently.

Don put the light down with a sigh and shook his head, "I'll have to look into… this some more. I don't… I'm not sure what's going on. Originally, I thought it was a night terror – you have the symptoms – but it doesn't fit. If this _were_ a night terror…" He blinked himself out of his thoughts and squeezed Mikey's shoulder, "But we'll find out." He tried to smile reassuringly.

"I feel fine," Mikey said. "Maybe it was just a one-time thing?"

"Maybe." Don didn't sound convinced. Mikey didn't blame him: he wasn't, either.

"Michelangelo," Splinter said, "What is it you dreamt of exactly? Perhaps if we knew, it may provide clues as to what is occurring?"

"Well, it's like I said before," Mikey said, lavishing in the attention, "There was this old guy, right? And his hair was like ridiculously pink, and we were underwater, in this cave of some kind, and there were all these glowing rocks. It was super creepy, too. Like it was just silent and there weren't any fish or anything like that, which there should have been that deep down in the water, right? But nope. Just empty."

"And this man, he did not say anything?" Splinter asked.

"Nope." Mikey bit his lip. He felt bad for lying, but he couldn't tell any of them what the man had said. He didn't know why: he just knew he couldn't. Not yet. Not until he knew what – and who – the man had meant.

Splinter stroked his goatee, "I see." Mikey was worried he'd caught on and was going to call him on it but, instead, Splinter said, "Donatello, let your brothers know Michelangelo is okay. However, despite your claims you are well, I think it best you not be left unattended, in case these… _events_ repeat themselves."

"Right," Mikey said: that was fine by him. He didn't feel much like snapping his legs falling out of bed, anyway.

It was super weird trying to fall asleep with his brothers sitting next to him, and a lot hard then he'd originally thought it would be. Don had taken first shift, and his eyes skimmed over the pages of a thick, glossy medical book. He'd attempted several conversations but Don would have none of it.

"It's important you get to sleep while you can," he would say, "if these nightmares get worse, it'll get harder for you to rest – and your body needs to do that Mikey, or else blah, blah, blah, science, blah, blah, blah, hygiene, health, blah, blah, blah."

With Donnie talking like that, though, Mikey found himself asleep in no time. He grinned when he realised he wasn't dreaming, but the smile slipped off when he realised he shouldn't be aware of that.

"Uh," he looked around at the darkness, his eyes wide open, "hey, Don? You there?"

A low hissing surrounded him.

"Who's there?"

The hissing got louder and closer.

"This isn't funny." He said. "Come on, old dude, show your face! Or are you too scared, huh?"

Light glared into his eyes. The old man stood before him, an inch from his face so that Mikey could see the wrinkles on his face and the specks of colour in his eyes. Mikey gasped and tried to step back, but the guy had a surprisingly tight grip on his arms.

"Me, afraid of _you_?" He snarled, and the hissing got louder.

Snakes with glowing purple eyes and long red bodies swam in the surrounding waters and curled around Mikey's ankle, squeezing tightly. He tried to shake them off but to no avail.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it," He tried to pull out of the guy's grip, "look, please, just tell me what you mean. Who are you looking for?"

"You KNOW who I am LOOKING for!" The man's voice shook the cave, and the snakes hissed louder, "Bring him to me!"

" _Who_?" Mikey asked desperately.

"PUERDÉ!"

"I don't know who that is!" Mikey protested, his heart thrumming away in his chest, "I don't know who that _is_!"

"You LIE." The old guy thrust him against the wall of the cave and Mikey grunted. The flecks of colour in his black eyes glowed with anger, "I told you, either you return him to me, or you would suffer. For every night you do not return him, I will leave you a reminder of your disobedience."

"What the shell are you _talking_ about – _AGH_!"

He looked down at his arm and his breath caught. A snake had bitten into his arm; its long fangs deep within his muscles. And it _burnt_.

"You can't do this!" Mikey said in a rush, "You've got me wrong! I don't know Puerdé!" The burning got worse. His vision went bright. He could hear Raph's voice, somewhere far off – " _Mikey!"_

"You cannot lie to me," the guy snarled, "I have _seen_ him, you: the lot of you! You think me a fool enough to believe he lives with you, without you knowing of him? Bah! I have _seen_ you speak to him! You think the basin shows me wrong?"

"I don't know who he is! I don't know who he is! _I don't know who he is_!"

" _Mikey!_ Come on, bro', snap outta it!"

Mikey opened his eyes, his heart flapping like the wings of a hummingbird, and did the first thing he thought of: he punched.

"Hey!" Raph was clutching at his now-bloodied nostrils.

"Sorry," Mikey squeaked.

Raph breathed in and out deeply, "Are ya' alright?"

Mikey looked around at the familiar surroundings of their Lair and breathed in deeply. He looked at the fluorescent lighting, the white sheets of the infirmary, the completely normal brick walls. There was no water, no cave, and no creepy old dude. But he could still hear him.

The door swung open and Don, half-asleep and his mask askew on his face, rushed in. "I heard yelling?"

"You're supposed to be sleeping, Don." Raph pointed out.

"I'm fine," Mikey said, "it's just a little warm."

"Mikey, you're freezing," Raph said. "Ya' were just shivering then."

"Well I feel hot," Mikey said, "Someone needs to turn the heater off – hey!" the last part was to Donnie, who had started wrapping him in blankets.

"Should I run another hot bath?" Raph asked.

"No," Don said as he continued checking Mikey over.

"Come on, stop it," Mikey whined, trying to tear the blankets off. He was feeling way too hot, and not in a good way, "I'm fine, really!"

"Mikey, I think you've got hypothermia." Don said gently, "You've got to keep the blankets on."

"I don't care," he tore at the blankets, and Don grabbed them, too.

"Mikey," he said, his voice pleading. But then he stopped. "Mikey? Where… where did that come from?"

"What?" Mikey followed his gaze. The snake bite from his nightmare was there, blaring red with black around the edges – as though the fangs had been burning metal. Don put his thumbs around the bite and inspected it.

"Is that a snake bite?"

 _I will find you._

"There ain't no snakes in here, Don," Raph said, edge in his voice, "I would'a seen them."

 _Bring him back to me,_

"So how did it get there?"

 _Or you will suffer._

"I dunno. I didn't see nothin'. He just started shaking."

 _I have seen you speak with him!_

"There has to be some kind of logical explanation."

 _Every night you do not return him,_

"Yeah, an' I'm sure ya'll find it out, Don. But what are we gonna do now?"

 _I will leave you a reminder of your disobedience_.

"Well, I guess – Mikey?"

Mikey blinked. A cold chill ran down his shell. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

They were both staring at him now. Mikey frowned and looked himself over – had more snake bites shown up? But he still looked fine. Well, a little pale, but otherwise he was okay. "What do you mean?"

"You looked a little far-off," Don said. "What… what did you dream about?"

Mikey hesitated. He was pretty sure these dreams were more than just dreams, but there was totally no way Don would believe that. He was way too into science – which meant he probably wasn't the Puerdé guy. But then who was? Could one of his brothers, or his father, not really be who they said they were? Or was Puerdé someone else? Casey?

"Mikey?" Don pressed, his voice soft.

"It was… it was the same guy, from before." Mikey shrugged.

"The one with the pink hair?" Don asked, "Can you describe him more? What else did he look like?"

 _He had blue skin_ , Mikey wanted to say, _and these glowing spots and lines along his body, and black eyes, and he was freaky, and I think these aren't dreams, and I'm freaking out, 'cause he's saying one of you aren't actually_ you _and I don't know what I'm supposed to do_ _about it._

"He was just… normal." Mikey lied. "But this dream, uh… there were snakes in this one. Glowing snakes."

"Underwater?" Don frowned, "Are you sure you don't just mean eels?"

"No," Mikey insisted, "they were definitely snakes."

"Alright," Don said slowly, the cogs in his brain on overdrive behind his large brown eyes. "Alright."

"I, uh, I should go get Splinter and Leo," Raph said. "Let them know what's happened."

Mikey wanted to argue about it and tell them he was fine, but he felt tired, so he didn't bother. Don lifted him back onto his bed and wrapped the blankets around him. He hesitated. "Don… something really, really bad is going on here." He whispered. "And I'm… I'm scared. Like, _really_ scared."

"You're going to be fine, little brother," Donnie said, "we're going to find out what's doing this, and put a stop to it, okay? We're family. It's what we do."

Mikey just nodded.

Don smiled gently and turned for a moment to grab some cotton swabs from the desk drawers, "I'm going to take a sample from the snake bites, okay? And see if they give any clues." Mikey didn't respond, and Don went ahead with getting his samples. "Strange. These bites look like they're at least a few days old, but you didn't have them earlier." He pulled the swabs back, and they had yellow-orange ooze on them. Mikey tensed.

"Don't touch that stuff."

"What do you mean?" Don asked.

"It… it burns," Mikey said. "The poison."

"Venom." Don corrected, "If it was injected by a snake, it would be venom."

"Just don't touch it."

"Michelangelo, my son,"

Mikey looked up and offered his father an apologetic smile, "Hey, Dad."

"Are you alright?" Leo asked, right behind their father.

Mikey rolled his eyes, "I'm fine."

Despite his reassurances, Splinter insisted on checking Mikey's temperature himself and wrapped him in layers of blankets and scarves. It reminded him of when they'd all been little. Leo made him a cup of warm chocolate milk and insisted on helping Don help to cover up the snake bite as Mikey re-explained his dream.

"What did the snakes look like?" Leo asked.

"What does that matter?" Mikey asked. "They were just snakes."

"The more we all know the better," Leo said.

"Leonardo is correct, Michelangelo." Splinter supplied, "Perhaps these dreams will lead us to the cause of your... illness?"

Mikey made a point of signing. "I don't know, just, like, red with purple eyes."

"And they glowed," Don added. He looked to Mikey, "Didn't they?"

Mikey nodded.

"The whole of them?" Leo asked.

"N-No. Just their eyes. I think. I wasn't really paying much attention to it."

"Why not? What else was happening?" Leo asked.

"What makes you think anything else _was_ happening?" Mikey snapped, getting defensive. He felt claustrophobic under the mountain of blankets and he was starving and they were all looking at him like he'd half gone insane and he was half worried that he had.

Leo wrapped an arm over his shell, "Mikey… what happened?" he leant down so that they were looking into each other's eyes, keeping him from looking away, "What scared you?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"I… he… he said…" Mikey swallowed thickly. "I can't."

"Okay." Leo wrapped his arms around him, "That's okay, Mikey."

Tears were building up in his eyes. He had started shivering again. He hated whoever the guy in the stupid nightmare was. These were his brothers. This was his family; the people who he would trust his life with; the people who would, and had, risked their own lives for his. How could the Pink-Haired guy make him forget that so easily?

"These… these _are_ just dreams, right?"

Leo hesitated and shared a glance with Splinter.

"I don't know."

Eventually, Mikey had to sleep again. He didn't like it, but he'd only gotten a few hours earlier, and they all insisted. Splinter took first shift and ushered the rest of his sons to their own rooms. Don insisted on wanting to look at the venom samples, but Splinter insisted more. That was Dad for you. Mikey fell asleep to Splinter singing him a quiet Japanese lullaby, and soon Mikey found himself back in the underwater cave: a place which he was quickly learning to hate.

There was no hissing and there were no snakes.

It was dark, lit only by the stones in the stone basin.

The old guy wasn't in sight.

Mikey tried pinching himself awake. When that didn't work, he decided he'd best go for his nunchucks – but they were missing from his belt. In fact, his entire belt and all the rest of his gear was missing, except for his bandana.

"Great." He muttered.

Underwater, unconscious, uncertain – and defenceless.

With nothing else to do, he wandered through the cave. He woke up every time he found Oldie, so he'd just need to find him again. Besides, Splinter was there with him (sort of). If anything went wrong, Splinter would keep him safe. With that in mind, Mikey began his voyage. The cave was deeper than he'd thought: down, down it went, lit up only by the occasional glowing stone. He thought he saw the eyes of a snake at one point but they were gone when he looked back. It was eerily quiet and it was starting to hurt his head.

He didn't want to risk hurting the guy's feelings again since that didn't work out well last time. He winced and grabbed at the snake bite. So he decided to go for another approach – he called him by name. He didn't want to use it. Something about the name frightened him. But the thought he might not wake up otherwise frightened him more.

"Quadeus?" He called tentatively, "Are you here?"

No response.

After a few more steps, though, he started to see light up ahead. He started a slow jog which turned into a slow run towards it. It was a deep cavern here with giant purple crystals on the ceiling to light the space up. The area was a circle, with stone steps like that of the colosseum; like stands to watch people fight to the death. Mikey frowned.

Quadeus was sat, his hands in his head, on one of the stone steps. He looked up at the purple crystals, as though asking them, " _why?"_

"Uh," Mikey hesitated, "Quadeus?"

No response. The guy couldn't hear or see him.

"Quadeus?" Mikey repeated, louder, just to be sure.

Still, no response.

Quadeus kept on looking up at the purple crystals. He closed his black, deer-like eyes and breathed air out his nose, causing a parade of bubbles to dance up to the ceiling of the cavern. Mikey looked around at the walls: small pictures were carved into them, like the columns outside. Pictures of blue people dancing, singing. They looked happy, carefree. What had happened to them, Mikey wondered?

He walked to the centre of the open floor. The bench seats spread all around him in a perfectly crafted circle: five or six long trucks in diameter. A great, big amphitheatre not for killing, Mikey realised, but for parties – for people to sing and dance, like the pictures on the walls. He wondered what it was like for those blue people, to dance within the water. Mikey tried to give it a go, out of mere curiosity, but the water weighed him down and was too thick for him to move in. It was then it dawned on him that he shouldn't be able to breathe.

"Soon."

The sound was so sudden that Mikey all but jumped out of his shell. He turned to Quadeus anxiously, "W-What?"

But Quadeus wasn't looking at him. He was staring up at the crystals, still.

"He'll come home soon." Quadeus' shoulders were slumped, relaxed, and he breathed the water in slowly. He interlaced his webbed fingers together, which sort of made it look like he'd wrapped his hands in a giant wad of stretchy bubble gum, and a sort-of smile graced his face.

"But _who_?" Mikey muttered helplessly.

Quadeus clapped his hands and the cavern descended into darkness with a _snap_.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

Mikey grumbled and turned on his side, blinking angrily at the bedside lamp.

"Good morning, Mikey," Leo said, his voice abnormally gentle, "are you okay?"

It took a moment for him to realise what Leo meant. "Oh, yeah," he grinned, "no more snake bites." But he checked himself over, just to be sure.

"Breakfast is almost ready. Don said to only let you to the table if your fever was down." Leo held out a thermometer and Mikey grudgingly put it under his armpit.

"This is so undignified." He grumbled.

Leo chuckled, "Sorry, bro: doctor's orders."

Mikey rolled his eyes and slumped into his mass of pillows. He looked to the thick, leather bound book placed upside down on the bedside table that Leo had been reading: a bookmark halfway through it.

"Hey, uh, Leo?"

"Yes?"

"What… what do you think of the name Quadeus?"

"Quadeus?" Leo frowned, "I don't think I've heard of it before, but it's similar to the surname Quade, which is Irish, I believe, if that helps? Why do you ask?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Mikey hesitated. "What about the name Puerdé?"

Leo hesitated. "Italian, maybe?"

Mikey nodded. Well, that was a whole load of uselessness. He sighed deeply: what had he even expected? That saying the names aloud would clear the mystery around them?

"Thermometer?"

"What?"

Leo frowned. "Maybe you should stay in bed."

The suggestion made Mikey feel antsy. "No, no – right." He handed Leo the thermometer, "I'm just tired is all." He grinned, "Some pizza would probably help me wake up, though."

Leo smiled. "Nice try." He put the thermometer down, "I won't bother going into the details of health pertaining to pizza for breakfast-,"

"Because you know I won't listen?"

" _Because_ Don has already said that he wants you on light foods in case you start vomiting, so explaining anything beyond that to you would be a moot point."

"Wait, so no pizza? Not even for dinner?"

"I'll try and talk Don into a slice or two," Leo stood up, "coming?"

"Yep," Mikey grinned. He slid onto his feet with ease, feeling much better today, "maybe that whole sick-thing was just once-off?"

"I don't think so, Mikey."

Mikey stuck out his tongue, "Why do you have to be such a pessimist?"

Leo raised an eye ridge, "Was that a nine-letter word?"

"Oh, shut up."

Don and Raph looked up from breakfast preparations as they approached.

"Feeling better?" Don asked.

"A hundred percent." Mikey grinned.

"Good." Don nodded at the assortments of food on the table, "I thought we'd go for a light breakfast and try and get as many vitamins in you as possible, to help your body combat the, uh, strange virus you've got."

 _It's not a virus_ , Mikey wanted to say, but instead just said, "Cool by me. S'long as I don't have dishes-duty, I'm happy."

"Goofball." Raph muttered.

Splinter entered the room and patted Mikey's shell, "It is good to see that you are faring better, my son."

"Thanks, Dad." Mikey grinned.

"Good morning, Father," Leo said, "Would you like me to brew you some tea?"

"Yes, please, Leonardo."

Leo nodded and set about the tea-preparations. Splinter sighed wearily and sat on his chair, purplish bags under his eyes. Mikey frowned, "Are you alright, Father?"

"Yes, I am just tired."

Don handed Mikey a thick shake that was filled with various fruits and berries and Mikey grabbed himself a bowl of the veggie soup Don had made: he must've put every vegetable known to man into it. Mikey swirled his spoon through it.

"I didn't mean to make you guys all worry."

"It is not your fault, Michelangelo; you needn't apologise."

Mikey continued to swirl his spoon through his soup. Raph rolled his eyes and clapped a hand on his shoulder, "Come on, there ain't no need to go mopping around. Ya' know that's Leo's job."

Leo shot him a frown from the tea kettle, which got a smile back on Mikey's face. Breakfast almost seemed pretty normal that morning. Don talked about some wiring problems they were having with the security cameras around the lair – he was pretty sure rats were chewing through the wiring, which was setting them all on a fritz. Leo said they needed to get it fixed as soon as possible, since the news predicted some heavy storms coming in, which lead to Leo and Raph arguing about a wrestling match from a few nights ago: go figure.

"On that happy note," Mikey interrupted them, "I'm gonna go play some video games."

"I'll grab you the blankets from the infirmary," Don suggested, more than happy to excuse himself from the table, "You should keep warm, to make sure the fever doesn't come back."

"Which would leave us with the dishes, eh?" Raph groused.

Leo rolled his eyes and stood, "The sooner we start, the sooner we finish."

"How wise of you, o' great leader," Raph said sarcastically.

Mikey and Don headed off and Don muttered with a slight laugh, "Those two are ridiculous."

"Yeah." Mikey glanced over his shoulder, "Hey, Don? You're smart right?"

"Why do you ask?" Don asked.

They arrived at the infirmary and Don dumped a pile of pillows into Mikey's arms before he shouldered the pile of blankets himself. Mikey snatched up his comic book, which he'd been looking for, like, months now.

"Well, I was wondering if you knew anything about the name Puerdé?" Mikey inspected Don closely, but he didn't show any hint of recognising the name.

"… It… sounds Italian, I suppose? Or perhaps Spanish? It could be a surname. It could be derived from puer, which is a kind of tea, or Puerto Rico. Or it could be something to do with puer aeternus?" Don suggested. "Where did you hear it?"

"A movie," Mikey lied, "What's that last thing?"

"Puer aeternus? Well, it's Latin for eternal boy. In mythology, it's a child-god who's forever young – the term comes from the Roman poet Ovid. It's also linked with psychology: the puer aeternus syndrome, which is a where an adult is socially immature and acts like a child, usually coupled with a man who has great dependence on his mother."

"A child-god, huh?" Mikey asked.

Don nodded, "Ovid addressed Iacchus, I think it was, as _puer aeternus_."

"Who was Iacchus?"

"I'm not completely certain." Don admitted sheepishly, "I don't know much about Greek mythology. I think he might have been a son of Zeus, though." He dropped the infirmary blankets onto the couch, "I'll get you some water – try and keep hydrated, okay?"

Mikey saluted, "Yes, Sir!"

Don patted his shell and headed into the kitchen, where Mikey could hear Leo and Raph still bickering with each other. Mikey loaded up a video game but pulled out a laptop and searched _Iacchus_. Most of the information conflicted itself: each website having a different variation of the guy. The most Mikey got out of it was that Iacchus was highly associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries, some type of Ancient-Greece cult. Like Don had said, Iacchus was believed to be the son of Zeus, and either the son of Persephone, Zeus' daughter, or the son or Demeter, Zeus' wife. But some websites said that Iacchus was believed to be the same guy as Bacchos which was the Roman name for Dionysus, the god of wine: all of which was already giving Mikey a giant migraine, only a few minutes in.

Don reached over the couch and handed Mikey a water bottle. He chuckled when he was the webpages open on the computer, "Good luck with that."

Mikey scoffed, "I'll need more than just luck to understand any of this." He chucked the useless laptop aside.

Don was quiet for a moment. "The name wasn't from a movie, was it? It was from your dream?"

Mikey winced. He should've known Don would figure it out.

"The old guy may have, uh, mentioned the name."

"You said he didn't say anything."

Mikey fidgeted with the edge of a blanket, "Just… don't tell anyone, okay? Not yet."

Don seemed reluctant, but he nodded, "Alright."

"Thanks."

Don nodded. "Just tell me if he says anything else… and consider telling Splinter, at least."

"I'll think about it." Mikey said.

"I'm going to go keep looking at those venom samples. Let someone know if you're going to sleep."

Mikey rolled eyes, "Yeah, okay, I will."

He settled into his mass of blankets, and started a game. Iacchus, Puerdé, Quadeus – they could all wait for now, for all Mikey cared.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Inevitably, that night, Mikey slept once more. Though, he didn't dream that night, or the night after, or the night after that. His brothers kept watchful eyes on him despite his assurances that he felt fine. But inevitably, after a week of dreamlessness, he dreamt of the cave and of Quadeus, and the glowing stones forever trapped in the eternal stone carvings.

"Not again," Mikey moaned.

"What had you thought?" Quadeus' voice snarled, "That I had been untruthful when I told you that you would suffer, if you failed to bring to me Puerdé?"

"I thought you were maybe just a dream," Mikey admitted.

Quadeus snarled. Wait… no. Not Quadeus. Mikey turned around slowly and yelped when he saw a large bull-like creature with purple fur and bright glowing blue eyes. Its bottom half was that of a fish: oily black scales that glinted in the dim light.

"Either you return him to me, or you suffer." Quadeus said, his voice eerily calm, "For every night you do not return him-,"

"You'll leave me a reminder of my disobedience." Mikey finished, his voice trembling, "But how am I supposed to return him to you? I don't know who he is!"

"But he knows of I, and he knows of what I have been doing. He thinks, perhaps, that he can hold me off forever – but tonight shall show him that he is wrong." Quadeus said, "And that shall force his hand. He will return to me." Quadeus' turned his head towards the amphitheatre, "He will be home soon."

Mikey tried to run, but his legs felt like lead beneath him: entrapped in the stone, just like the glowing gems. "Please don't," Mikey said, "There's another way."

"Perhaps." Quadeus said. "But that is of no concern to me."

He waved his hand, and the bull bit down on Mikey's arm, hard.

"OW!" Mikey screamed. The bull's teeth were pointed and tore right through his flesh and muscles.

"Tell them of my name, Michelangelo." Quadeus said, "And do not disobey me."

And then he woke up.

He expected his brothers to be there, surrounding him, but he was alone in the darkness of his room. He looked to the door. He listened. But nothing. Shaking, Mikey got to his feet and stumbled out to the second floor railing.

"Guys?" He ran (which was more like a fast stumble) down the stairs, "Guys?"

"Michelangelo?" Splinter stepped outside of his room, which had been made out of an abandoned train cart: the old kind with back-to-back, cushioned seats and wooden panelled walls.

"Where is everyone?"

"Raphael and Leonardo have gone to aid Casey Jones."

"With what?"

"They didn't say. What happened to your arm?" His brown eyes were etched with worry.

"I, um, okay, well, I had another dream, right? And it's just, the dude, Quadeus, he was super angry, but like calm? Like, he was really agitated, but he was acting and sounding all calm, you know?"

"Michelangelo, slow down." Splinter gestured to the steps, "Take a seat, breathe. I will fetch Donatello."

Mikey breathed in deeply and sat down. He was still shaking. "Okay."

Splinter went to Don's lab: Mikey guessed he was either totally engrossed in his research, or he'd fallen asleep on top of it. Either way, Don came rushing out with a med-kit.

"What happened?" Don asked immediately, opening the tin box.

"There was a bull. It bit me."

"That doesn't _look_ like a bite." Don muttered, pulling out a clear cream and some bandages.

Mikey looked at his arm. Sure enough, there were no bite marks and not even any blood. But there was a deep purple bruise, and when Don touched it gently, it burned like molten lava.

"Ow! Don't touch it!" Mikey snapped, pulling his arm back. He breathed in deeply, "Sorry, I-,"

"It's fine." Don continued to treat the wound, "Father, have you contacted Leo and Raph?"

"Not yet." Splinter sat beside Mikey, "Continue your story, my son."

Mikey felt kind of weird talking about it with Don there, but he continued anyway, "Well, truth is, Splinter, the guy in my dreams, Quadeus, he, uh… he _has_ been talking to me."

Splinter nodded and stroked his goatee, his golden brown eyes deep with thought, "I had expected as much."

"You did?" Mikey asked incredulously, "Then why didn't you say anything?"

"I knew that you would tell me when you were ready. I did not want to rush you."

"Oh… well, uh, he's been saying that I need to return this Puerdé guy to him, or else- or else I suffer, and every night that I don't return Puerdé, he'll, like, leave me a reminder of my disobedience." He gulped, "And, I mean I know this sounds super crazy and everything, and you probably don't believe me, but he said that I need to tell all you guys his name, and I just… I don't think these are dreams, Father – I mean with the marks and everything, they have to be, don't they? And… and I'm kinda freaked out, you know?"

"Has he said anything else?" Splinter asked.

"Uh, yeah – something about him seeing me talk to the Puerdé guy, and something about Puerdé thinking he could hold Quadeus off, but that tonight would force his hand or something. Well, and that Puerdé would be home soon."

"I see." Splinter continued to stroke his goatee as he stared off into space.

"Do you… believe me? The dream? That it's real?"

Splinter sighed deeply and nodded, "I am afraid I do, my son. Donatello, call for Leonardo and Raphael to return home. There are matters we must discuss."

"What about me?" Mikey asked.

"Do not fall asleep."

"No problem there." Mikey muttered, "I don't think I'm gonna go back to sleep ever again."

Donnie finished taping the bandages, "Hai, Sensei."

Mikey was terrible at sitting still as it was, let alone while he waited for his brothers to return home. So he paced along the lounge room, fidgeted with his game controller, scanned through one of his comic books quickly, looked in the fridge a few times pointlessly, and sat upside down on the couch. _I am afraid I do_. It was never good when Splinter said stuff like that. Did he mean he'd expected something like this to happen? But how would he know that? Was Splinter Puerdé? No, it was probably more to do with the physical injuries… right?

"Mikey, careful of your arm." Don chided for the fifth time.

Mikey rolled on the couch so he sat up-right. "I hate waiting."

"Really? I hadn't noticed." Don jibbed, and Mikey laughed. Don even smiled.

Mikey leant back into the lounge with a huff, "This is all so messed up."

"Yeah," Don agreed, sobering. He sat beside his baby brother and wrapped an arm over his shoulder, "So Quadeus is looking for Puerdé?"

Mikey winced at the mention of their names. "I guess so. That's what he said."

"Hm." Don frowned, "Quadeus said we've spoken with Puerdé?"

"Yeah."

"He wouldn't have meant one of us." Don said, more to himself than Mikey. "He couldn't have."

Mikey understood what he meant: he didn't want to believe it, either. But Mikey had a really, really bad feeling about it. He smuggled into Don's side, "What's taking them so long?"

"They'll be here any second." Don replied.

"They should be here by now." Mikey pointed out.

"I know."

"Maybe… something happened?"

"Probably." Don said morosely. "Turtle luck, true to form, hey?"

"Yeah."

Suddenly, the lair entrance opened and their older brothers came in. Raph was sporting a large gash down his right leg which was hastily wrapped in a blanket, and he was having trouble standing upright; his eyes unable to focus.

"What happened?" Don was on his feet in no time, and Mikey followed after. Don heaved Raph over his arm.

"Leonardo, come. Tell me what has happened."

Leo glanced at Mikey, "But-,"

"Now."

Splinter's staff tapped the ground firmly and Leo bowed, knowing better than to argue, "Hai, Sensei."

Leonardo went with their father to his room and Mikey followed Don into the infirmary. Raph cussed as he sat down on the bed. Don grabbed out gauze and bandages and began to disinfect his wounds.

"What happened?" Mikey asked.

Raph shook his head, "Ya' wouldn't believe me. _Heck_ , I don't believe it."

"Try me," Mikey said dryly, "It's been an odd night."

Raph shifted and Don quickly scolded, "Stay still."

"There… we went to Casey. He heard the purple dragons were gonna be doing this raid, ya' know? And it was gonna be big. I told him not to go in alone but, 'course, he didn't listen. Leo and I had to shake tail and go save his sorry ass." Raph shook his head, "And we get there… and it's just empty. There ain't nothing there. No warehouse, no Casey, no gang. Nothing but a…" he frowned, "well, there was a… bull."

"In New York _City_?" Don asked, glancing up from the newly wrapped bandages.

"Yeah. And nobody noticed. There were people around outside, but none of them seemed to know the bull was there. But it wasn't even a bull, it was _purple_ and its eyes glowed. I mean, I must'a hit my head or something, right? There ain't no way that thing just ran outta the warehouse and nobody saw it."

Don frowned, "Did you call Casey?"

"Yeah. April picked up. They both been watching a movie all night apparently." He threw his hands up, "Case had no idea what we were talkin' 'bout, either."

Mikey wasn't really listening. His mind was drifting. "A bull…" he murmured.

"Mikey?"

"There… there was a bull in my dream." Mikey said, and held his newly acquired wound, "He gave me this." But why would Quadeus go after Leo and Raph, and why in the real world? Why not in a dream like Mikey? Mikey's head was spinning. Don was saying something and forced him down to sit. He could feel himself shaking but he didn't care. Whoever this Quadeus guy was, he meant business, and he didn't care if that got Mikey and his brothers killed.

Don rested a hand on his shoulder and offered a smile.

"We're going to work this out." He said. "Right, Leo?"

Leo and Master Splinter were walking towards them and had only caught onto the last part of the conversation.

"Right." Leo said, his face set in determination.

"Whoever this Quadeus man is, is determined to find Puerdé." Splinter said. "The best course of action, I think, is to try and discover who this Puerdé is."

"I can try and find something online." Don offered.

"Raph, you contact Casey and see if his street contacts know anything." Leo said.

"And you?" Raph asked.

"Mikey and I are going to try some meditation. His link is clearly closest to Mikey and some meditation may help keep Quadeus out of Mikey's head."

Mikey groaned and slumped back into the couch. "Great."

The brothers retreated to their respective areas and Splinter went to his own room to meditate on his own. He was going to reach out to his old friends to see if they had any information that could be of value to them. Mikey watched as Leo set out the meditation mats in the dojo and helped him to light the various candles before he switched off the lights. The room was engulfed in an eerie glow and Mikey felt uneasy sitting down.

"What if Quadeus traps me in meditation or something?" He asked.

Leo sat down cross-legged before him and shook his head. "You need to stop worrying, Mikey, it's only going to hinder you. I'm right here. Nothing is going to go wrong."

"I hate this."

"I know."

They spent the rest of the afternoon meditating. Mikey liked to use meditation to hone in on the energy that surged his being. It helped his body to relax and allowed him to feel the pulsing of chi running through his blood. By nightfall, Mikey was feeling a lot better but was no closer to understanding Quadeus and was sure he wouldn't be able to hold him off if he were to fall into a dream once more.

He could hear Raph walk into the dojo and opened his eyes. He was surprised to see how far down the candle wax had burned. Leo was standing up.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Case didn't get no info about Quadeus or that bull but he did hear about strange snakes apparently lurking in the alleys. And get this, they were exactly as Mikey described the ones from his dreams." Raph said.

"Did anyone approach the snakes?" Leo asked.

"A woman did – a wildlife worker." Raph said. "She'd been on her way into her apartment building when she saw the snake. A lot of elderly people live in the complex so she wanted to make sure it wasn't dangerous but before she could even finish pulling out her phone, the snake struck her. She's in hospital in a coma. There was a security camera by the door but it didn't show no snake. If it hadn't been for one of the residents see it go down, they wouldn't'a known. The police just think the elderly is going loco."

"They would think the snake bites were from her work," Leo said.

"Yeah. They're investigating the workplace 'cause there's no record of something of the like happening and they think that means there's something fishy going down there." Raph said. "They think the coma is the result of an attack, from a co-worker with a nasty side."

"How do they think she got the coma?" Mikey asked.

"They think it's from her fall; a bad hit to the head," Raph said.

"That's no good for the residents if the snakes are still there roaming," Leo said. "And if this bull follows the pattern, then we're going to have a bigger problem on our hands."

"Yeah. The bastard ain't exactly easy to take down." Raph agreed. "Whatta we do?"

"We can look for the snakes tonight," Leo said. "If we capture one, Don might be able to use it to find a weakness against them, and against the bull. If they were both sent by Quadeus, then it's possible they both have the same _off_ switch. How's your leg doing?"

"It's doing great." Raph cracked his knuckles, a grin on his face. "And I think I'm ready for some payback."

Leo smiled, too. "Go tell Don." He looked to Mikey, "We leave in five."


End file.
